The walk back to the surface was silent.
Sarah walked two steps behind Arthur, clutching Viper's crossbow like a lifeline. She flinched every time Arthur's boots crunched on the loose gravel.
Arthur didn't look back. He was busy managing his inventory.
He had Brutus's heavy mace strapped to his back. It was too heavy to use effectively with his current Strength (even with the potion, which had worn off, dropping him back to Strength 8), but it looked impressive.
HP: 305 / 602
His maximum health had broken the 600 mark. The Ring of Iron Will (+3 Constitution) provided a solid +30 base, and the Glitch was ticking away relentlessly.
"Sarah," Arthur said, breaking the silence.
Sarah stumbled. "Y-yes?"
"When we get back, keep it simple," Arthur said, his voice calm, devoid of threat. "The Hobgoblin Enraged at 20%. It grabbed Viper. Brutus tried to tank it, but the healer ran out of mana. I tried to intervene, but I was too late. Brutus died a hero."
He stopped and turned to look at her. His eyes were cold, reflecting the emergency lights of the tunnel.
"That's the truth, isn't it?"
Sarah looked at Arthur. She thought about the moment he drank the potion while Brutus choked on his own blood.
"Yes," Sarah whispered, her voice trembling. "That's the truth."
"Good. Stick to the script, and you keep the crossbow. Go off script..." Arthur let the sentence hang in the damp air.
He didn't need to finish it. Sarah was Level 3. She had seen him facetank a boss. She knew the hierarchy.
Ironblood Cartel Base - The Hotel Lobby
The lobby was bustling. Survivors were hauling in crates of supplies. A makeshift triage center was set up near the reception desk.
When Arthur and Sarah pushed through the glass doors, the room went quiet.
They looked like they had crawled out of a blender. Arthur was caked in layers of dried blood—green, red, and black. Sarah was pale as a ghost, shivering.
"Vance!" a guard shouted. "Alpha Squad is back! Or... some of them."
Vance emerged from the back office. He was wiping his glasses. He looked at Arthur, then at Sarah. Then he looked behind them at the empty doorframe.
"Where is Brutus?" Vance asked. His tone was light, casual, which made it terrifying. "And Viper?"
Arthur unslung the heavy mace from his back. He walked up to Vance's mahogany desk and dropped it with a heavy thud.
"Dead," Arthur said.
The word hung in the air.
"Dead?" Vance put his glasses back on. "Brutus was a Level 4 Warrior with full plate armor. Viper was our best shot. And you're telling me they died, but the 'Civilian' tank survived?"
Vance's hand drifted toward the pistol on his belt. The guards around the room tensed, hands moving to weapons.
"The Boss was an Elite," Arthur said, keeping his hands visible. "Iron-Tooth Hobgoblin. It had an Enrage timer. It ignored aggro mechanics and went for the backline. Viper went down first."
Arthur pointed at Sarah.
"Ask her."
All eyes turned to Sarah. She shrank under the gaze of the guild leader.
"It... it's true," Sarah stammered. "The Boss... it was too fast. It grabbed Viper. Smashed him against the wall. Brutus... Brutus tried to hold it off, but I... I ran out of mana. I couldn't heal him fast enough."
She started sobbing. It wasn't acting. It was genuine trauma.
"Arthur saved me," Sarah choked out. "He jumped on the Boss's back. He finished it off. But Brutus was already..."
Vance stared at Sarah for a long moment. He was a human lie detector, but Sarah wasn't lying. She believed what she was saying.
Vance looked back at Arthur. He narrowed his eyes.
"Kael," Vance murmured.
The scout appeared from the shadows, shaking his head slightly. He whispered in Vance's ear.
"I tried to Inspect him again, boss. Still getting the Error Code. His HP value is... fluctuating. It's higher than before. Much higher."
Vance's face remained impassive, but Arthur saw the micro-expression. Uncertainty.
Vance looked at the mace on the desk. Arthur had brought back the guild's property. A traitor or a thief would have stolen it.
"And the loot?" Vance asked.
Arthur reached into his pocket. He pulled out the Hobgoblin's Spine (Material) and a handful of credits he had scooped up.
"Here," Arthur said. "Whatever dropped."
He didn't mention the Skill Orb (used) or the Ring (equipped). He wagered that Vance didn't know the exact loot table of this specific boss.
Vance stared at the pile. It was meager.
"A Level 5 Boss usually drops a piece of gear," Vance said softly.
"Maybe it did," Arthur shrugged. "Maybe it's buried under the rubble. The tunnel was collapsing. We had to leave."
It was a gamble.
Vance looked at Arthur. He saw a man covered in gore, holding a gaze that didn't flinch. He saw the "Error" that his scout was terrified of.
Vance smiled. It was a business smile.
"A tragedy," Vance said, standing up. "Brutus was a good earner. But... resources are retained. You brought back the mace. That shows loyalty."
Vance pushed the credits back toward Arthur.
"Keep the change. Consider it a severance package for the trauma."
"And the 15%?" Arthur asked.
The room went silent again. The audacity to ask for payment after a team wipe.
Vance laughed. "You have guts, kid. Fine. You kept the Healer alive. That's worth something."
Vance reached into a drawer and pulled out a rolled-up piece of parchment.
"I don't have credits to spare right now. But I have information. This is a map of Sector 8."
He tossed the map to Arthur.
"We sent a drone down there. It's a [Hazard Zone]. The air is toxic. But the drone saw chests. Gold chests. If you're as tough as you look, maybe you can breathe poison."
Arthur caught the map.
[Map Acquired: The Toxic Sewers]
"Deal," Arthur said.
He turned and walked away. Sarah hesitated, then scrambled away toward the medical tent, putting as much distance between her and Arthur as possible.
Outside the Base - 10:00 PM
Arthur walked two blocks before he stopped in an alleyway.
He slumped against a brick wall, letting out a breath he had been holding for twenty minutes.
"That was close," he whispered.
He checked the map. The area marked "Toxic Sewers" was highlighted in red skulls.
Warning: Environmental Damage. 50 Poison Damage / Second.
Arthur stared at the number.
50 Damage per second. 3000 Damage per minute.
Currently, his Max HP was 602. He would die in 12 seconds.
"I can't go there yet," Arthur realized. "I need more HP. A lot more."
But Vance had given him this map for a reason. Vance wanted him to go there and die. It was a soft execution. Go chase the gold chests, Mr. Glitch, and melt into a puddle.
Arthur grinned.
"Challenge accepted."
He opened his status screen.
HP: 308 / 605
He needed a grinding spot. A place to lay low, avoid the Cartel, and let the clock tick.
He looked at the map again. There was a small, overlooked icon near the sewer entrance. [Water Treatment Plant - Maintenance Tunnels].
It wasn't the red zone. It was the buffer zone.
"I'll hide there," Arthur decided. "I'll farm rats. I'll sleep. And I'll wait."
He checked the math. +60 HP/Hour. +1440 HP/Day.
To survive 50 DPS for even a minute (3000 damage), he needed... well, he needed high regeneration, not just high Max HP.
Wait.
Arthur looked at his passive skill again.
[Endless Vitality (Glitch)]Effect: Every 60 seconds, Max HP +1.
Was there a secondary effect he missed? No. But he remembered something from the System Bible. Vitality didn't just increase HP. It increased Health Regeneration Rate.
Base Regen = Vitality / 10 per second.
Arthur had 15 Vitality. That was 1.5 HP/sec. Nowhere near 50.
"I need items," Arthur muttered. "Items that restore flat HP or percentage HP."
He pushed off the wall. The night was young. The Cartel thought they had tricked him into a death trap.
But Arthur saw it as a private VIP lounge.
As he walked into the darkness, a global announcement rang out in the sky, displayed in gold letters for every human on Earth to see.
[GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT][First Dungeon Cleared: "The Goblin Nest" (Europe Server)][Rankings Unlocked.]
Arthur looked up. Europe was fast.
He looked at his own Ranking.
[Global Rank: 4,502,118][Sector Rank: ??? (Error)]
"Good," Arthur whispered. "Keep me off the list."
He disappeared into the shadows of Sector 8.